Here's a quick sample of nicknames on my ICQ list. Trunkit, Zeke, GreenBean, Silver Wyvern, v.v., Chowmein, CONAIR, chrispy m&m, Dreamer, Frapps, FruityTooty, KaPOWie!, Krazy!, Kyflex, L'il Miss Bo-Peep, Mike, Montia, Pure, ScaryLady, Sneezie, Starbucksgirl, Tobyville, tricky onion, Vocalise, abmb, phantom, Pixiedust, Yakkowakko. What's in a name anyways? Some of them I know what they mean. Usually some kind of inside joke, right? Or something they like. Or....something like that. Let's analyze. That's seven relating to food. Five relating to characters of some sort. A few that are variations of their actual name. At least two having to do with music. Three if you count me. One named after a movie. Some that I actually have no idea about. So......what does it all mean? How does one pick a nickname? I, for one, had trouble picking a nickname at first. In fact, the one that I go by, wasn't even my idea. It was Ms. Dawson's label for me. So I don't really know how it all works. How to pick? Something that you're passionate about I guess. Or could be something that you're known for. Should my new nickname be CrazyDriver? Some people change their nicknames fairly often. Most tend to stick with one for awhile though. They start to identify themselves with that name, and don't want to leave it. Let's look at this food phenomenon. Over a quarter of the names have something to do with food. What does this mean? Are people obsessed about food? Maybe I should name myself Mushroom Soup. Let's see here....two named after coffees, two named after vegetables (although I don't think that either of them was really named in the vegetable sense of the word), one after fruit, one after chocolate and one after noodles. Oh, I just searched ICQ by the way. There are four people named Mushroom Soup. Anyways, what's with food? I love food myself....maybe I need a food nickname. Iron Chef? The Waiter Who Spit In Your Bowl? What is people's thing about food? Hmm. Email address are telling too sometimes. Some people will go to great lengths to find a suitable domain name. Extraordinary, really. An eclectic mix, I would say. This phenomenon needs to be studied in depth. I wonder if food really is such a prevalent thing, or if it's just my friends. I wonder if cartoon heroes is such a big thing. Okay well, I'll leave it for you guys to ponder, and to examine your own ICQ contact lists, to check out the trends and speculate on reasons for certain names.